<p>Hi all, I am new to this forum, so bear with me:</p>
<p>I will graduate with a biomedical engineering (BME) degree, and I want to eventually go to grad school, most likely for BME. However, I want to take 1-2 years off working (need money for grad school). Should I look for jobs in industry or lab tech jobs in hospitals and such? Ive been told that lab tech jobs are good stepping stones so to speak, for grad school. What are other people's experiences with this advice? If I went with industry, I'd want to do something more research or R&D related.</p>
<p>I think that I want to do research after grad school, but I would not mind doing that in industry, which is why I am considering an industry job to get my feet wet.</p>
<p>Do you want to get an MS or a PhD in BME? If the main reason you want to take time off between undergraduate and graduate school is money, I assume you want to get an MS. PhD programs usually waive tuition costs and provide you with a stipend, and if research is your thing, a PhD is usually the better choice (at least for regular biosciences, not sure if that is the case for engineering).</p>
<p>I am actually leaning towards a PhD, but that may not be my decision to make if I don’t get into a PhD program. My gpa is above average, but by no means great, and my research experience is probably around average. Disregarding the money aspect though, which path would you recommend? Industry job or lab tech?</p>
<p>Either, really. There are also plenty of ways to get funding to do a fellowship type stint post-college, and if you can start building a history of success in applying for and receiving grants, you will be in good shape for a research career!</p>
<p>But don’t grad schools like to see research experience and publications? I feel like in an entry level job in the BME field for undergrads, it’s really more about exposure to the process as opposed to getting actual lab experience. Very few teams in a company would trust a recent graduate to do anything. </p>
<p>Also, I see all these other threads on CC about people have multiple first authorships and such. Those can’t be from lab tech positions, no? Can anyone elaborate how these people get those kind of opportunities?</p>
<p>For the most part having publications out of research experience is being in the right place at the right time. As an undergrad you likely didn’t have to dump into a project as a grad student, and having something publishable might just be you got lucky your experiment worked on the first try. As a grad student I’ve had months where nothing publishable happens, then I get three papers worth of data in as many months. If I have a summer student or an undergrad working with me then they luck out and get put as a coauthor.</p>
<p>Yeah that makes sense. If you don’t mind me asking, can you say what kind of experiences helped you get into grad school? Research (in general), publications, advanced coursework, internships, other activities?</p>
<p>Research and advanced coursework are probably the most important. As a PhD student you’re basically being hired as a researcher for 3-4 years. The first 1-2 years you’ll be doing mostly coursework, so taking advanced courses and doing well in them also sends signals to prospective graduate programs that you’ll be able to make it through those without too much of a problem.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with taking a bit of time off school and working. Engineering programs don’t hold work experience against you. In fact, it might be an asset in applying for a Ph.D. program as well. Furthermore, you will get a chance to figure out if you are really interested in a M.S. or Ph.D.</p>